Observations From a Mechanical Man
by native portlandian
Summary: Cyborg was a watcher, which was both a blessing and a burden. Oneshot. Might add more as per request.


Disclaimer – Every time you ask I only get sadder.

AN – no idea where this lies chronologically. Sometime a little after season one? Pre-Terra, post-Robin's apprenticeship. But it involves four different pairings. Enjoy yourselves.

…

Cyborg was a watcher, which was both a blessing and a burden.

To anyone openly observing the Titans, it was hard to determine any obvious relationships. The superheroes were friendly, but also relatively secretive of their personal lives. Everyone had their opinions of course, and some suspicions were stronger than others. Magazines in and around Jump City featured articles about the teens and their possible relationships. Mostly, these were about Starfire and Robin, a true "power couple" if there ever could be one. But still were others proclaiming less popular pairings: Beast Boy and Raven and Robin and Raven. Every once in a while, a Beast Boy and Starfire article popped up. But in truth, no one knew anything about the relationships within the Tower.

Well, all except for one person.

Cyborg had always been good at seeing little details. Even before his surgery, he was able to read people extremely well. His high school counselor had even suggested he consider going into police work. His robot parts just magnified a natural ability. Now he was able to catch the tiniest movements of body language: a flicker of eyes, a shift in stance, a slight blush behind the ears. Cyborg had never mentioned this to his teammates. They were all already relatively tuned into each other's emotions. Robin could tell if someone was lying or hiding something with barely a glance. Starfire fed off of her teammates' energies. Beast Boy had an instinct that never led him astray. And Raven, well, she was an empath. None of them ever questioned Cyborg's excellent ability to know what they were feeling. It also certainly helped that the entire team went to him when they wanted to vent.

He didn't even need to say anything. One by one, they'd come to him and just talk. It warmed his heart, knowing they trusted him so much. And rightly so. Cyborg was like a priest at Confession; nothing ever made it past his lips once they were sealed. Robin usually found him while Cy was working out. While they spared, Robin would talk about his frustrations. Starfire liked to come to him while he was cooking. Raven would just show up in the garage, grab tools or cleaning supplies or whatever, and just start venting. Beast Boy usually opened up while they were playing video games alone. Through all of this, Cyborg had learned a _lot _about his teammates. And he could definitely say that every single magazine was wrong.

Starfire made it extremely clear where her affections fell. Whenever her crush walked in the room, Cyborg could practically see her float off her feet, hearts in her eyes. Her luminous green eyes followed him around the room, and for such a smart boy Cyborg found it incredible that he didn't notice. Everyone but the boy in question knew what was going on in Starfire's easily read mind. Cyborg thought that anyone would be lucky to have captured the gorgeous alien's attention, but the crushee treated Star the same way he treated anyone – aloof and distant, which broke her heart. One day, when Cy was making bacon for BLTs, Starfire sat on the counter and wondered aloud why the boy of her dreams never noticed her. Cyborg honestly had no answer, so he remained silent, letting his friend chew over her worries to a listening ear. According to the media, Star and her crush were the two most attractive members of the team, and they were just bound to be together. This is probably part of what influenced Starfire's feelings, but the half-robot had no doubt that what the girl felt was legitimate. Cy thought that Star had made a good choice – they would be good for each other, would balance each other out. Starfire fretted that he would never notice her because he was so involved in his work. Cyborg suggested that she tell him how she felt. Star had claimed that she had _tried_, but something always came in between and ruined her chance. She believed that her boy would always put professional relationships before any other. Cyborg hadn't confirmed or denied this, as he knew that the problem was something else completely.

Cyborg had never encouraged Robin to open up to him. Originally, it had been a complete accident. They had been sparring, and Cy had easily pinned the leader, who had been throwing sloppy punches and barely covering any of his defenses. It was easy to tell there was something on the Boy Wonder's mind. When Cyborg asked what was wrong, Robin had brushed it off, claiming he was just distracted. Cy pushed a little harder, saying that he had never seen his leader so distracted, even when they were facing the worst villains. It was then that Robin had dejectedly told him the reason for his distraction: a girl. And not just any girl. A team member. Cyborg couldn't say he was surprised, but kept his mouth shut all the same. After the incident, he began to notice little things. Robin would watch the girl with a gaze rivaling Batman's in intensity. He would give her the simplest chores and let her off the easiest from punishments. He'd pair them together for patrol more than anyone else. And when he spoke to her, there was a kindness in his voice that Cyborg had never heard before, even when she snapped at him. All of this was very subtle – he would have never guessed if not for the tip-off. Eventually, every sparring session Cyborg and his leader had would become Robin's venting time for his feelings. The half-robot never complained – it seemed to keep Robin from getting dangerously distracted. The leader was almost upset that these feelings were prevalent. He told Cy often that he couldn't live in this constant terror for her safety. He had tried so hard to see her as a normal teammate, but felt a connection to the girl. Of course, this was literally _and_ figuratively, but Cyborg never pointed it out. Robin said he would try his damnedest to make the feelings go away, but until then he was hopeless. Robin was not a stupid boy, he understood what his mind was telling him. Cy advised that telling her about these feelings might be the way to go so neither would stress out over it, but Robin had vehemently disagreed, vowing to keep the feelings locked away for as long as possible.

Raven had a similar approach to her relationship problems: keep them bottled up and hope they'll just disappear. Of course, for a person like Raven, whose emotions needed to be kept under heavy guard at all times (something Cyborg had learned personally), this was a major problem. This also led to Raven not quite understanding the feelings when they first began blooming. She had appeared in the garage while Cy was polishing the T-car, nearly scaring him out of his metal skin. The worry on the young sorceress's face was quite obvious when she asked the boy she considered an older brother for advice. Cyborg had been happy to oblige, sitting back and listening to the symptoms Raven described: blood rushing to her face, increased heart rate, shaky hands, loss of train of thought, and intrusive daydreams, all when a certain male Titan entered the room. Cyborg had almost laughed out loud – Rae thought that her crush was a medical condition! Cyborg gently informed her about this concept. This terrified Raven to the point where Cy's toolbox went flying across the room. She had denied it profusely, and then stopped to think about it while the half-robot patiently picked up his tools. Without another word, she disappeared into a portal. Cyborg assumed she was going to meditate. He had guessed this attraction had been happening, but hadn't been too sure – Raven was the hardest to read, right next to Robin. Then he began to notice the lingering glances, the sharp retorts that came out of nowhere, the sudden teleportation when the boy in question entered the room. Raven was terrified of her new emotions for this boy she claimed she hated. Whenever Cyborg was down in the garage, he would never be too surprised to find Raven there, full of questions. Cyborg answered them all as unbiased as he could. The worst was when she wanted to know what she should do and what the kid thought of her. Whatever advice the half-robot gave her for the first question she'd shoot down, and the second question was just…an awkward one. He told her the truth of course, even if certain parts were cut and it came out extremely vague. Raven decided to assume the worst at the end of every session, but always came back again.

Since Beast Boy and Cyborg were best friends, Beast Boy seemed to find it absolutely appropriate to tell Cyborg who he had a crush on at any point in time. At first, it seemed to fluctuate week to week; random girls he found attractive. And then he chose one and stuck. At first it had just been "she's really hot, dude" but had eventually escalated to "I can't stop thinking about her". Cyborg had listened and agreed to certain points. Of course, Beast Boy was relatively young and had never actually experienced any sort of relationship. Cyborg wanted to write it off as puppy love immediately, but then decided to sit back and watch for a while. Beast Boy would do anything to make the girl laugh, turning into every animal she thought of and keeping track of the ones she liked most. His ears pricked up whenever she sat next to him, and he could barely keep that goofy smile off of his face. He did everything he could to make her happy, which really wasn't that hard. But their combined energy was pretty intense, and Cyborg wondered whether or not he should even encourage this. But Beast Boy was his best friend, and best friends are also _wing-men_. So Cy offered him advice on how to "win her over", all of which was a little ridiculous and over-the-top. And of course, it all went over her head, much to B's frustration. Really, Cyborg thought that his friend's infatuation was a little pointless, considering half of the city was also in love with this girl. But he never told the naive boy that.

The entangled web of relationships in the Tower was enough to drive any man insane. So it was fortunate that Cyborg was only half man. But it still broke his heart to watch his teammates struggle with their loves. He hated seeing Starfire's heart break whenever Robin shut a door in her face. His soul ached when Robin tried to connect with Raven, who just ignored him. Cyborg's spirits fell when Raven would leave the room as soon as Beast Boy walked in, her hood pulled up to obscure her reddened face. And Cy's mood always dropped every time Beast Boy struggled to capture Starfire's attention for more than a second.

Cyborg was a watcher, which was both a blessing and a burden.


End file.
